The Michie Hospital 184 Queens Gate London

Introduction

Jerry White's book Zeppelin Nights, published in 2014 by
Bodley Head, describes the impact on London and its people of the First
World War, 1914 - 1918. In 1915 London became began receiving large numbers
of wounded from the western front and beyond. However in July 1916
this became a flood as huge casualties were experienced during the Battle of
the Somme and it was at this time that The Michie Hospital came into
existence.

The Michie
Hospital only existed for three years and few
traces remain, except for photos and papers in the archives of the British Red Cross
Museum.

The photo below shows hospital beds and a large Christmas
tree. It was taken in December 1917 when Great Britain was still at war with
Germany and Mrs Mary Michie had loaned her large house at 184 Queens Gate,
London, for use as a Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital for wounded soldiers.
It was affiliated to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital and initially run
by a Mrs Isaacs.

Note the electric lights which were then a fairly new
invention. Electricity
may have been supplied by the local Kensington and Knightsbridge Electric
Lighting Company.

The hospital was locally known as the Michie Hospital
after its owner.

On the Christmas tree can be seen the flags of the allied
nations including that of Japan, which was then an ally. The hospital, which
was opened by Queen Alexandra in 1916, had 168 beds, and it is said that of about
2,800
patients admitted only 5 died.

Some more photos of the Michie Hospital

These images are taken from small poor quality prints, but we hope they
will still give some impression of those days, a century or so ago.

The first photo (see below) is of a ward of the hospital. Note the potted
plants and hospital dress.

The photo below shows a group of men standing at the
entrance to the hospital. The woman in the white blouse might be Mrs Michie.
One man is holding a child.

The photo below shows a vehicle at the entrance to the
hospital; you can just make out the patients in the front and back of the
car. Possibly a rare sight in those days when few cars were on the road.

In the picture below are some of the Red Cross nurses who
looked after the patients.

The photo below shows men being cared for by the nurses.
Note the very basic facilities compared to today. The man seated on the
right looks as though he has his leg in a special bath.

The church on the roof

The spiritual needs of the patients were not ignored, and
a small wooden hut was erected on the roof of the Michie Hospital to serve as a chapel
or oratory where people could pray;
it is thought to have had about a dozen seats.The photo below shows Mrs
Michie and a priest outside the little chapel.

Another website about the
Lost
Hospitals of London suggests that the chapel was dedicated by the Bishop
of London on 7th March 1917. The Bishop of London at that time was
Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram who was born Worcestershire, 1858, and
died while staying in retirement with his niece Constance Mary Adeline
Grice-Hutchinson (1886 - 1962) at The Boynes, Upton upon Severn on 20th May
1946. Arthur's maternal grandfather was
Henry
Pepys, Bishop of Worcester. Arthur had worshipped at the
Church of the Good Shepherd, Hook, while staying with his niece at the
Boynes and presented the brass altar cross to the
Chapel.

The Boynes had also been used as a Red Cross Hospital
during the 1914-1918 war (as had Ashfield in
Abbey Road, Malvern) and is now a
care home for the elderly.

After the war

After the war Mrs Michie was presented with a framed
photograph by the staff (she is not in the picture herself).

The image below shows a copy of the photograph and an
enlargement of the small plaque which was fixed to the bottom of the frame.

The story has been passed down that Australian soldiers were particularly welcome at the house
which was a short distance from South Kensington tube station.

Scottish surgeon Lawrie
Hugh McGavin CBE FRCS worked at the hospital. Like Mrs Michie, he had links with Australia as
both his wife and mother-in-law were born in Australia. He also had strong links with the army as he had once been in the
Dragoon Guards and his brother-in-law was a senior army officer. You
can read more about his family by clicking here.

Mrs Michie (see photo below) received the CBE in 1920 and died in 1945
aged 88 years.

Sadly two of her Australian nephews were amongst the 62,000 Australian
soldiers killed in the Great War.

The house was not hit in Zeppelin attacks on London, but later in the Second World War, the house (shown opposite) was badly
damaged by enemy bombing on the night of
19th February 1944 when a bomb hit 184 and 185 Queens Gate and the gas main
caught fire. Eight people died.

The site of the building is now occupied by part of Imperial College.

Mrs
Michie was the daughter of a Nottinghamshire coal miner who emigrated to
Australia with her family in the 1870s, returning to London in the 1890s.

She had married, thirdly, in 1908, the Scottish painter James Coutts
Michie (1859 - 1919), an artist of
the Aberdeen school.

Descendants of her family still live in Australia.

The Michie Hospital was just one of many establishments called upon to treat
approximately 2 million British Empire wounded.

More about the history of this and other hospitals can be found in the archives of the British Red
Cross Museum in London.